Five, six........

....pick up sticks!  Which is what Ali's been doing, all around the house!

And we have a lot of sticks.  We are due one big bonfire soon.

Monday, 28th September, Ali gave me all day to myself in the basement working on the cedar-canvas canoe.  Which is exactly what I needed.  Those two ribs that had been tantalising me all summer; that I repaired at great labour?  Gone!  Replaced!

And Ali made a brilliant COP pie!  Yum.

Tuesday, 29th September.  Work on Ali's birthday present........  And a siesta in the afternoon.  Well; what are holiday's for (and it was raining anyway!)  More boat-work in the evening - sea-food pizza for tea (a bit of a cop-out rather than a COP pie (groan!).

Today, Wednesday, 30th September.  Big push on Ali's birthday present......  even bigger push on the C-C canoe!  MUCH sawdust on the basement floor!  Abrasive email from a parishioner "back home", following up on my leader for the Parish Mag this month.   Un-identified bird on the meadow.  Pictures tomorrow (of the bird, not the offensive parishioner) - it's (very) late!

Happy October, folks.

The End is Nigh!

Stop press.

Sunday, 27th September.  Up early to church.  We made a special effort to get there on time today.  It really does take an hour!  Lovely service of Morning Prayer lead by Ali's school friend (albeit separated by many years) Elisabeth.  It is such a welcoming place.

Back via St Jovite to buy Ali's birthday present.......

Home to finish sweeping and organising the basement, and to bring in the boats!  Doesn't it look smart; plenty of time to change that!

And then, the big show, the lunar eclipse.  Great viewing conditions.  Couldn't have asked for better.

Dust on the lungs.....

.... not a medical diagnosis, and not very grave, but definitely coughing well.  Which must mean ACTIVITY in the basement - and much progress!

Yesterday, Friday the 25th September,  the weather broke and it even rained in the morning!  Gosh, that's several days without rain now!  Building continues in the basement and the sorting of tools.  It sounds a bit like a Kipling poem, doesn't it?  "And 'ere we 'ave the smaller claw 'ammer; the smaller claw 'ammer is like to the larger  claw 'ammer and resides on the rack like so!"  Hmmm - don't give up the day job!

Late afternoon we dug in all of the plants from Ann's garden and gave the tiny oak tree a ceremonial planting.  It presently has three leaves.  If it flourishes, our grand children's grandchildren might live to see a proper tree!

Thursday's frustration, largely brought on by making do with oddments of timber, mismatched and fastened together like misaligned eyebrows, was remedied by recourse to the supply of rough but totally suitable timber, bought along with the house all those years ago and ever since residing in the barn!

And no more spanning 4ft gaps with 6ft planks, leaving joints hanging in mid-air.  Cut at 4 ft (well - there abouts, anyway!) and move on.  It's very rough board and it'll always make kindling in the winter!

The Chipping Sparrows don't seem to care!



























So today, Saturday, 26th of September, was a bit more of the same basement work and then - in to town to take toxic rubbish to the tip (only on Saturday mornings ???), to buy some supper (Pacific salmon, yum!), and to buy some timber and a new fluorescent light for over my work-bench.

And still the sun shone!  Ali weeded the front path, cleared stones from around the fire-pit and replaced the rocks Mark had moved with an in-fill of these smaller stones.  We shall seed this surround soon with thyme and some wild-flowers.  I  went to Michel's to have a beer and watch England-Wales.  Good game!  Wrong result of course.....

Back in the basement, more and more of the floor covering (stuff!) has taken its place on the new shelves.  K and D's chop saw has been invaluable.  I think tomorrow may see the last tidy-up and installation of the canoes.  Which is rather what all this is about!

We had a great conflagration of old cardboard in the fire-pit before the end of play, but not before this chap had made an appearance.

Better days; something achieved!

Losing the plot?

No, not really, just tired, that's all.

Yesterday, Wednesday the 23rd of September, Claude came to start the priming of the walls!  Sadly, that means that I still can't find any tools, and I can't do anything in the basement save endlessly wander around sweeping.  But fortunately, the weather was lovely and I carried (!!) Burlesque down to the fire pit, where the soil is bare at the moment, and used the colour-restorer and loads of water.  Then I carried it back, put it up on the trestles and returned to my sweeping..... 

Lobsang's the name, sweeping's the game.

We spent a lovely, leisurely evening catching up on the Great British Bake-off!  How's that for romance, eh?

Today, I made a determined start at clearing up the basement; another lovely day and I genuinely got on - a bit. 


Lunch on the deck in the sun; it had been really quite cool early morning but was pleasantly warm at lunch-time. 


A flock of Myrtle Warblers came to feed on the grasses by the marsh.  Ali managed to identify them "in the field".  I had to rely on these photos.







Claude came after lunch to paint the top coat.

I've re-created the shelves in part; the walls are lovely.  I can at least SEE some tools but there remains a huge, amorphous pile in the middle of the room.  Oh well; as long as the weather stays clear.....



,

The long way 'round....

Monday, 21st September.  we left our 19th Century-built B and B and headed down on to the Gardiner Expressway - to find it solid.  So we took to the Lakeside Drive and simply slipped along on to the Don Valley Parkway and thence to the 401.  This HAS to be close to the world's most tedious road.  Although they tell me that Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta do pretty well for those....

Anyway, finally driven quite wild by the tedium, and having time to spare, we nipped off at the sign of the "World's Biggest Apple"; an apple pie factory and sort of petting zoo.

The ladies were hard at shovelling great hands-full of apples into pastry cases.  Seems as if  they've been doing this for a while, given the numbers on the sign above them....  So, by now being in a mood to be diverted, we went to look at Trenton Lock - the start of the Trent-Severn waterway.  Just in case, you realise, just in case......

And then we turned south - eventually - and on into Prince Edward County; a near-island with a reputation for cider; sadly not much in evidence.  But it was a pretty place with much advertisement of it's "Loyalist" past and much Edwardian and Victorian architecture evident.  There is a ferry just north of Picton at the east of the county which we literally just caught.  "Apres nous la barriere".  On then to Ann's above Kingston, for a very jolly afternoon and an excellent supper, and for much raiding of perennials this morning, under cover of thinning the border ......

Ann's local store has a magnificent "ex-Pats" section and we topped up on Marmite (!), Ma-Made (!!) and Branston Pickle (!!!).  It's further than you think from Kingston to home; the ferry at Masson was a welcome sight, even if one log-lorry took up almost all of the ferry before ours.  Never had to queue before!

Home in darkness.  Claude has been very busy in the basement but so much for time off for Burlesque; there is a huge amount still to do down there.  Ho hum.

Days of family and friends.

Saturday, 19th September.  Up early to Noah's, the boat chandler, to buy the canvas for Burlesque.  Perhaps, just perhaps, I'll manage to use it before we leave for the U.K.

To their house....

and then a rather circuitous hunt with Guy for that part for the fan in our car....  And shops telling us that they had the part, and then they didn't.  But eventually, in Mississauga, a Chrysler dealer DID!  And it works.  We can now operate the fan.  Hooray!  (Thanks, Guy!)









Afternoon to AGO for the exhibition Picturing the Americas.  Quite woolly-political, but some amazing paintings, mostly of a naturalist style.

Lila had a great time in the hands on centre - aided and abetted by Granny!

Sunday, 20th September.  To church - outside - as part of the Roncesvalles Polish festival.  Great service, great feeling.  The air is cooler and fresher now, cotton cardigan weather. 


Lots of traditional dresses....


Soup and good bread for supper. Off tomorrow; it's been a great trip, thanks :-)

Toronto

Great, leisurely trip from home to a B and B, new to us, about five minutes' drive from G and J and L.

Supper together on Thursday evening and then, today, 18th September, in to Toronto by streetcar (trolley bus) and most of the day at the ROM for the Pompeii exhibition here and a wander through the other galleries.

The Pompeii exhibition was really interesting.  It was set up to give a really clear, vibrant view of this thriving, Roman city by the sea. 
I have to admit, I had always seen the Romans as being a rather dour, earnest sort of people.  But here they were, still not decadent, but definitely enjoying the good life.

The strange device top right is part of a plumbing system with cast bronze stop cocks attached to a lead junction box in order to control the water flow in to a house.

Bottom right is an "instant" water heater with a semicircular heater tank surrounding a fire hearth and attached to a reservoir for the liquid.  The tap on the right was for the user to run off the heated liquid!

I hated the armour for the gladiators and haven't any pictures of that, neither could I bring myself to photograph the casts of the many, many bodies found originally as cavities in the ash layer.  far too moving for snaps.

A really good exhibition which will stick in the memory and might even make me want to go to see the originals.

We then moved on to the mineral gallery - Canada is, after all, full of minerals!  And there, pride of place, was a copy of William Smith's geological map of Great Britain, the subject of the wonderful book "The Map that changed the World".  Here's a close-up of Bristol and environs!

The range and colour of the specimens on display was fabulous. 

The coin is about 18" across; it's a one million Canadian dollar coin.  As you can see, it's pure gold but it's a bit heavy for small change at 100kg.

Lila and Guy went swimming in the evening, but we weren't allowed to spectate.

Good weather -

- I'm told.

Not that I'd know really, having been incarcerated in the basement for two more days with two of the most cheerful, indomitable pensioners you could imagine, Claude and Denis.




I had thought that the Gyproc would be finished yesterday but of course the remaining walls - moving the washing machine and tumble drier, re-building the water tank space, boxing in the windows - proved far more complicated and Claude left tonight with the door-frame to finish tomorrow and the "mudding" to do following that.

But it has been fun having them working alongside, and it has been fun having Karen and Denis to stay.  Thanks so much, Guys.

And Ali had other visitors this afternoon, too!  Diane and Chantelle dropped in to chat and have a drink of something soft with her.


With the net result that she finished cutting the lawn at nightfall - 7.15pm.

Time's winged chariots, eh!

Anyway, much excitement, off to Toronto tomorrow to see the Crawfords!

Subterranean goings-on!

Sunday - 13th September.  To church in Arundle again.  Nick Pang preached really well and the conversation after service was inclusive, cheerful and very welcoming as usual.

We came back via St Jovite to the now-translocated Tacos Lolita.  We've been meaning to go there for some time; it was always one of our favourite diners when it was in Labelle, but when the 117 by-pass was built, it was always going to struggle.  Now it is in a smart, extensive situation on the main street in St J / Tremblant.  Welcome as warm as ever; staff the same; food just as tasty, and plentiful

After an afternoon and evening of insulating the walls in the basement, supper was very light.  I had a truly "balanced" meal of tacos  - ;-)  .

Today, Monday the 14th of September, Claude arrived to start on cladding the basement walls.  Karen and Denis came late morning to join in!  They're staying for a couple of days, which is just lovely.  Ali cooked a great beef casserole for supper.  Thanks!

A MOST mixed summer becomes Fall ....

It's rained again.  Apart from our time in Ontario for the Rideau trip, we seriously think that there have been about three days which did not have rain within 18 hours this summer.

Yesterday (11th September) we seemed just to have kept at it  A little more sealant on the screen-room lower panels.And then a delicious and very chatty supper with Martha and Norman at l'Isle de France in Nominingue here.  They are such good company.  I had to send the first serving of snails back - they were irretrievable within their shells.  Chef came out with the second batch, apologising profusely.  Apparently they had overcooked the first and only managed to retrieve them with a very sharp knife!  (glad it wasn't my ineptitude!).  The rest of the meal passed happily without further incident.

It's as well we hadn't tried to book on Sunday!










Today, (12th September) the junk in the basement has built up.  And so a trip to the municipal waste-site at Riviere Rouge was called for.  It weighs you in, has an operative who calculates the percentage of recyclable material that you have brought and then weighs you out in order to present you with a bill for the land-fill element of your load!  All this paperwork is very Quebec, but also very sensible.  And the land-fill is great country for spotting Bald Eagles!

A return via BMR to buy far too much extra insulation to finish the lagging of the basement walls that the previous owner never managed.  And then a lovely, long evening listening to recital after recital by Lang Lang.  Everyone in the world must have heard of him except us!  Brilliant.

Here, there - and finally here!

Wednesday, 9th September, beginning to tidy the basement (!)

The insulation in the basement is exposed - which is not good.  So we're going to cover it with plaster-board (Gyproc).  Which will give us nice walls and a fire-resistant finish.

BUT, if you have seen our basement, you will know that even getting to the walls presents challenges.  We have until Monday - the Sherpas are due on Saturday afternoon if we've made no progress by then ;-)

In the afternoon I went back to St Jovite to pick up the car.  With shopping, that's a four hours round trip.  Hmmm.

Today, Thursday, 10th September.  Up and about early - for us at the moment.  Down to the dock to retrieve the timber; get it in to the steamer.  Bent up two ribs.  First one cracked. :-(   Tapered then soaked another with boiling water from the kettle before steaming it also.  Why didn't I do this ages ago?  Just too distracted, that's why!

And then work on the screen-room.  The panels are unsealed and let water in to the frame.  So it's out with the panels and in with the sealant.  Ho hum!

Then I decided to go for a swim.  The deck is supposed to show evidence of a wet foot-print.  It was pleasant; really pleasant.  The wonderful toadstool was just one of many on the way back up.

And finally, supper.  Mouclade Charentaise.  Quite a lot of work; the recipe didn't call on you to cook the curry powder - and it tasted a bit harsh. 

But the sauce thickened with an egg worked.

First time I've done that......

PRSD?

Post Rideau Shock Disorder?

Yesterday and today have been very flat.  Really little to report;

Yesterday, Monday, 7th September - a little tidying, some reading, Mr Murray lost....

Today, Tuesday, 8th September.  The van to St Jovite by 08.30 to have things sorted; ABS, the ventilation fan won't stop running, the exhaust is blowing.  Whilst waiting for that, down to St Adele in the hire car (a Fiat 500) to collect  the wood-cleaner for Burlesque and to have lunch with Karen and Denis.

Result on the car?  The brakes are safe; the ABS isn't working and would cost and arm and a leg to find the (presumably) electrical fault.  Ignore it.

The exhaust won't be in until tomorrow.

The fan needs a replacement control panel - expensive new; maybe Guy can find us a scrap one in Toronto?

Quiche and salad with K and D; Asparagus soup and that really good bread for supper. 

Here's hoping tomorrow may be better in terms of humidity (high at present) and energy levels.

Labour Day weekend

No spelling mistake - this is not LABOR Day in the US.  This is Commonwealth!

They don't keep Labour Day as a  public holiday in Quebec, keeping instead St Jean Baptiste.  But it seems things are changing!

Saturday, 5th September.  Off to Wakefield (Quebec - I mean, schizophrenic over language or what?  Here is this definitely, fiercely, naturally French-speaking province; on Friday, no sooner had we landed at Parc Plaisance Jaques Cartier than we were speaking French, ten minutes' paddling time across the river from anglophone Ontario.

And now we are driving through Quebecois Chelsea (!), to definitely anglophone Wakefield.  Difficult I tell you; difficult!).

Anyway, off to Wakefield to the Old Mill Hotel where P and N had their wedding reception.  A lovely place in the sun beside a waterfall, which I did not manage to photograph.  (Tripping up there lad, tripping up!)  A stunning venue, interesting building and unremarkable lunch.  Poor in fact - although the charcuterie was good.

And then on to Wakefield covered bridge - rebuilt by the locals after a disastrous fire.  Very pretty and what a way to sped Labour Day Weekend, sitting in the river  - even if we are in Quebec....

Such generous hospitality from P and N - a barbecue on Saturday evening and then the tennis......  Mr Murray won, thankfully.

Sunday, 6th September.

A noon departure, a short stop for supplies, then off home.  Rain on the way up but clear, (very) warm on arrival, eventual bathing showers and supper.


And the Labour Day weekend, le Fete des Ouvriers?  All the way up from the 50, the motorway from Ottawa which we left at Montebello, every house drive, every lakeside spot seemed full of cars or their occupants.  And the local news says that most of Montreal's public offices will be shut tomorrow - for Labour Day....

Great trip - these guys spent a quarter of an hour facing off in the meadow - but only because the cat chose, chose mind you, to stalk off....

Dark by 8.30 - Fall approaches.

"So - where have you guys come from?"

"From Kingston, Ontario". 

"How long has it taken you?"

"Just over a year!"

Friday, 4th September.  Aylmer, Quebec; been in about 3 hours now.  A shower, a beer (and a cup of tea!) and a quick catch up with the post and here we are.

On Sunday last, the 30th, we travelled to Arundel for church.  The previous, warm welcome and then away to Aylmer to stay with P & N overnight at their house here.  Warm; the air heavy with the scent of a transient skunk.  A delicious supper; slightly distracted by the prospect ahead.

Isn't it strange how phrases get in to your head?  On an open canoe chat-room, there was a long-running conversation regarding additional buoyancy in canoes.  I (meaning to be ironical) said that we were off to finish paddling the Rideau "with air-bags fitted".   I was challenged by a subscriber:  "Sorry, but if you're using air-bags on the Rideau Canal, PLEASE don't go north & paddle the backcountry. Really."

Those words haunted me for two whole days.  Had I been too foolhardy last year and put us at real risk?  Was I overcompensating this year?  And, drat it!,  who's trip was it anyway?  But the words went around and around my head - until Long Island Locks - where I met a Canadian who put it all in context.

Monday, 31st August.  A leisurely start to the day; some commissions at Jean Cocteau then with P and N to Burritts Rapids - the scene of our bail-out last year.  Our aim, Ottawa; our route, day one.....  to Rideau Hill Camp.

We pitched tent on the road side of the lock this year - last year we limped in to the river side.










And then we headed over to the restaurant  for a light something or other before P and N left us.  A stroll along the island and these views...

.... before coming back to the restaurant for supper, a good night's sleep (despite the all-night generator at the cafe and the occasional car passing along the road), and a very misty start.

Tuesday, 1st September.  Pinch, punch!  Where did August go?
I have a clear memory of early anglers in the fog before sunrise, and then tie to pack and off we go!

The countryside here is low, flat fields shielded by screens of trees.  It was good to be back on the river, in our own world of me and her; just padding; letting the yards go by.



We stopped at Beckett's Landing for a drink, a snack and a rest.  Nobody came, and nobody went.  And some of us perhaps snored - briefly!

The Long Reach - Burritts to Black Rapids - is rightly named.  There was no way that we could have paddled it all in one day.

Further on it began to be populated by large houses - with sweeping lawns.  Impressive enough (but nothing compared with what we would come across later!)

So we had reconnoitred during the Fall and contacted the United Church regarding the possibility of spending our first night at their Kids' Camp at Rideau Hill, just North of the Baxter Park;  a long haul this; and then!  And then perhaps the most incongruous, welcome sight of the whole trip - a floating ice-cream - Float!  There, in the middle of the river, was a converted pontoon boat - selling ice-cream.....  I mean; how can you resist?

Fortified by two cones (how do you eat a cone in the middle of a river, vaguely trying to stabilise a canoe?) we pressed on the last klick or so to the camp-site.

A delightful, if rather mosquito-favoured - haven at the end of a long day.  A  new ritual developed at this point; cups of tea - lemon or Earl Grey, depending - once the tent was up and before the main meal was prepared.  Just so!

It was really buggy here - and not just mosquitoes!  But it was a welcome haven and, we were grateful for the welcome, for the lights left on at the loos and for the warm water at the showers by the pool.  Thanks! 21.4 k.

Wednesday, 2nd September.

After another foggy dawn, today, the rest of the run to Long Island Locks; a two stops day.


First, to an improbable marina on the west bank at or after (we never did find the settlement) Kars.

Met by a man who could only have come out of an Evelyn Waugh novel, faced across the river by a re-incarnation of the African Queen, this delightful, spotless, piratically themed rest-stop offered cold drinks, a freezer full of B-B-Q food, a double shower (!) seating and a very "shiver me timbers" welcome.  Another time, I think we'd stop here, if only for the fun of it!

The river-sides became lined with grander and grander houses; if anyone asked me what the prevailing sound of the Rideau Canal was, I'd have to say lawn-mowers.  Some of these houses had lawns of well over an acre - all trimmed within an inch of their lives!  I stopped taking pictures of mansions - they were VAST.  Think Thames-side on steroids - and then some.

Second stop - luxury this - Kelley's Landing for a late lunch; with ladies who lunch - obviously often!  A very, very nicely cooked yellow-fin tuna steak on a Salade Nicoise, and an accessory dish of panko crumbed calamari - with copious lemonade - went down a surprising treat!  (as did a hot lobster, crab and shrimp dip followed by a Caesar Salad).  Fine dining with your boat at the dock!

But simpler fare followed; a charming, peaceful lay-over at  Long Island locks; balm to the soul - and a chorus of cigales so intense that it sounded like a gas-leak.  19.3 k.

A magnificent thunderstorm, drifting south from Ottawa, couldn't keep us awake, or break through the tent.  Hooray for Vango!



Thursday,  3rd September.  Long Island Locks to Hartwell's lock.

A very damp start; foggy first thing and then clearing.  We discovered that using a tea-towel to wipe both the inside and the outside of the tent optimised drying.  Simple for some but new to us!  Things have changed since being afraid of disturbing the proofing by touching the inside of a wet tent......

In fact, the day cleared to bright, bright sun, fortunately with a change of wind to the North - right on the nose but very welcome.

In the lock, one of the staff chatted to us, knowledgeably, about stitch and tape boats - which ours is.  We spoke of our designer, Paul Fisher, of his helpfulness to us on a number of occasions, and then of our thoughts for further trips.

But above all, he said, "you might need a bigger boat for the Trent-Severn;  its a working waterway".  This is only 32" wide" I replied, "Tippy", he said, "but the romance of the whole thing; You have built your own boat and paddled - or will have paddled - the Rideau.  My Congratulations to you."

In one phrase, I was justified!  Justified in my continuing instability in our lovely boat; justified in our pride at what we had done.  Justified in believing that Canada is a country that not only makes such trips possible, it makes them understandable.

We paddled right under the flight path for Ottawa airport; and right under all the mid-day arrivals!  Lunch-time at a really laid-back Black-Rapids lock was met with advice to avoid camping at Hog's Back - because of the noise - and to go on to Hartwells' instead.  Seemed reasonable.

At Hog's Back we found and paid due deference to the  Rideau Canoe Club-house at the entrance to Hog's Back locks.  I don't know that anyone noticed....

And so we pressed on to Hartwell's Lock.  We'd left the river now and were completely in engineered water.  But it was remarkably pleasant with cyclists and pedestrians and roller-bladers skimming along Colonel By drive, and no-one else on the water.

Hartwell's Lock is right adjacent to Carleton University campus; it was Fresher's' week.  There were many barbecues on our side of the water, but first year students in Canada are 17 - unable to drink alcohol - so events were much quieter than they might have been and only the discotheque kept us awake after dark.

The canal was warm and clear to rinse tired feet in.

The lock wash-rooms were accidentally closed, so we pretended to be students and used the facilities in the Canal building of the University!   16.3k









Friday, 4th September.  Hartwell's Lock to Parc Plaisance Jaques Cartier - Quebec.

Such a glorious day. suntan cream on; a northerly wind to keep us cool, cyclists, pedestrians and joggers to greet and salute us like a welcome party.  Canadians just seem to be friendly people.













And then at last, the view we have looked forward to for such a long time; Fairmont Chateau Laurier and the bridges to the Ottawa flight of locks.  There was a catch in the voice of each of us, I'll tell you.


The step down was a long-drawn, contemplative pattern of latch on, cast off, paddle, latch on, cast off....





And then we were free.  Released from the stricture of the water-way, welcome and reassuring as it had been, to face the new frisson of the Ottawa River.





Well, we had had wonderful advice from Stephen, Max, Beckie, the Lock-Masters and others.  We struck out for the far shore, following at first the boat we had come down with.  A river-trip boat appeared; we rode the wake.  A power-boat arrived, hurrying to catch the lock behind us and trailing a real wake; we got wet!  For the first time since Murphy's Bay - a year and a long way ago, we had water on board!

We pulled then for the North Shore, bounced and pushed through the wind against (very little) tide chop and made landing at the slipway at Parc Jaques Cartier.


Job done.


Big smiles.


Hartwell's to Parc Jacques Cartier - 7.5 k

Kingston to Ottawa - 203km